Reunion
by Animewriter444
Summary: Echizen Ryoma meets up with his childhood friend. But she isn't just any friend. SHe was the person who got Echizen Ryoma into tennis. This is my first story! RyomaxOC. I'm making up a lot of my own characters tell me if I'm losing some personality.
1. Memory of a Friend

Chapter name: Memory of a friend

"_Ne, Ryoma-kun,"_

"_What?" Asked Ryoma._

"_Are we friends?" Asked Amaya _

"_Yes! Definitely!" Responded 5 year-old Ryoma._

"_Are we best friends?" Asked 5 year-old Ryoma's friend, Amaya._

"_Mm-hmm." Nodded Ryoma confidently. _

"_Then… Will you meet me here tomorrow at 4:00PM?" Requested Amaya. _

"_Sure!" Ryoma responded. _

_* Sunday 4:00PM *_

"_Ryoma-kun where are you I've been waiting." Says Amaya talking into the phone._

"_Amaya-chan… I can't talk to you."_

"_Ryoma-kun, please where-" Beep beep. Ryoma shut his eyes as he snapped his phone close._

"Ryoma! Wake up!" Yelled Nanako, "You're going to be late for school!"

Ryoma sat up in his bed and blinked, "What was that about?" He muttered to himself recalling the familiar memory.

"Ryoma!"

"I'm getting ready!" Said Ryoma.

* At Seigaku *

"Okay, so we are having a transfer student from America. Class, please meet Hirano Amaya."

I watched from the back of the classroom and peered at the new transfer student. She had long wavy golden hair up to her waist and beautiful green eyes. She wore a white ribbon on the right side of her head. I looked around and already saw all the guys marveling at her. She was wearing the typical green Seigaku uniform but she wore different shoes. They were high brown boots.

"Um… Hello! I am Hirano Amaya. I am a transfer student from America." She hesitated and bowed, "Please take care of me!"

Just then, Ryoma walked into the classroom.

"Echizen Ryoma! You're late!" The teacher yelled. "Do you know how many times you've been late? This must be at least the 57th time! The next time you're late you will have detention, afterschool." The teacher shook his head "Kids these days think they can get away with just anything."

But Ryoma didn't pay any attention to the teacher he was staring at Amaya.

"Echizen-san?" The teacher asked.

"Amaya?" Asked Ryoma.

"Ryoma-kun?" Responded Amaya.

Ryoma nodded.

"Oh my god! I haven't seen you in so long!" Said Amaya jumping up and down.

The teacher then smiled. "It seems you two know each other already." He said.

Amaya smiled kindly at the teacher. "Yup! We go way back." She told him.

"Well, I'm happy that you have someone to get comfortable with. Well, since this seems to be a special occasion, you have no homework and we're throwing a party to get to know Hirano-san better." The teacher said.

The class cheered. But the whole time Ryoma didn't talk. Instead the whole time he stared at the floor guiltily as if he had done something wrong.


	2. Tennis Mix?

Chapter name: Tennis mix

"RYOMA-KUN!" Shouted Amaya as she ran to catch up to Ryoma.

Ryoma tugged his hat down to cover his eyes.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Asked Amaya.

"To my club." Ryoma said.

"Hmm… Well, what club are you in?" Asked Amaya.

"… Tennis." He muttered.

"Yup, that's definitely you!" Smiled Amaya happily.

"Well, I'm gonna' be late, see ya." He said, waving his hand behind him.

"Can I come?" Amaya called. Ryoma didn't hear her. "Can I come?" She yelled again.

Ryoma kept on walking. Her bright face faded and she stared sadly after him and whispered something softly to herself. Then her expression changed back to her jolly self and took off after him.

"Ryoma! Wait up!"

As she approached the tennis court she could hear the thudding of feet before she saw the players themselves. Spotting a certain redhead 3rd year she walked up to him and asked, "Are these the tennis courts?"

Smiling the redhead turned around and said, "Yeah!"

Amaya nodded, "Thank you!" And turned around taking off.

"Oh! Wait!" The 3rd year called after her.

Amaya stopped and turned around. "What is it?" She asked.

"If you want to join the tennis club you have to go to the female courts." He told her. Amaya stopped dead. "What? It's not co-ed?" She asked.

"Nope." The redhead replied, "I can show you there if you'd like. I'm Kikumaru, Kikumaru Eiji."

Amaya smiled weakly up at him, "Nice to meet you, I'm Hirano, Hirano Amaya. Thank you for the offer but I'm trying to find Echizen Ryoma."

"Ehh, Ochibi's got so many fans." He muttered.

Amaya laughed, "I'm not a fan!" She told him.

"Then what are you?" Kikumaru asked.

"I'm a friend!" She grinned.

"Oh, okay then. Follow me!" Kikumaru said happily.

They walked across the tennis courts. He led her by the vending machine.

"Wait here." He told her.

Minutes later he came back with the whole Regular team.

"Sorry! But we have to practice! You guys can meet afterwards!" Kikimaru told her.

"Of course." Amaya murmured.

"Who's that?" Asked a spiky purple-haired 2nd year.

"She's waiting for Ochibi!" Kikmaru informed.

"Ah! What's Tomo-chan gonna' think about that?" chuckled Fuji.

"Hey! Who are you? Why are you here?" Yelled a girl from the entrance of the tennis courts.

Amaya turned around to see a brown-haired girl in pigtails with an auburn haired girl with two really long braids.

"We're about to figure out!" Kawamaru said.

"Oh no. What's going to happen?" Fretted Ooishi

"Hi! I'm here to see Echizen Ryoma!" Amaya yelled back.

"Excuse me?" She said. "Ryoma-sama?"

"Wow! Ryoma-kun suddenly became a prince?" Amaya laughed.

"Mind you he's the prince of tennis! Nobody can beat him!" Tomoko boasted.

Amaya smiled, "You're definitely right about that!"

"R-ryoma-kun's having a match right now!" Announced the girl with the braided hair.

"Watch and marvel at his greatness!" Tomoko bragged.

They watched as Ryoma easily beat the struggling 2nd year.

"Go go Ryoma-sama!" Cheered Tomoko.

Amaya smiled a happy smile.

"Hey Ryoma! You got some friends there!" Yelled a uni-browed 1st year.

"Ryoma-sama!" Squealed Tomoko.

"Hey," Amaya said quietly.

There was an awkward silence until Tomoko nudged the girl with the braids.

"Sakuno!" She whispered loudly, "Didn't you have someone to give Ryoma-sama?"

"Huh, oh right." Sakuno shyly reached into her shoulder bag blushing a deep red. She brought out a bento box.

"Th-there is um… there are um- r-rice balls…" She offered.

"Eh…" Ryoma said, in almost mock amazement.

"Everybody! Gather on the tennis courts right now!" Directed an old woman on the tennis fields.

"Ryuzaki-sensei calling us. See you guys later!" waved Momoshiro.

"Hey, do you guys know why the girls and boys are separated?" Asked Amaya.

"Hm… now that you bring it up, I don't really know!" Replied Tomo. "But don't even THINK about trying to join the boys to get closer to Ryoma-sama!"

"Of course not. But, well, why shouldn't I?" Amaya teased.

"Just DON'T!" Screamed Tomo.

"So what did you want with us, Ryuzaki-sensei?" Asked a 2nd year.

"Me and the female's tennis coach have decided that we will have a girl's tennis team, a boy's tennis team, and a top-class co-ed tennis team." Announced Ryuzaki-sensei.

"What? Does that mean that girls from the tennis team might join ours?" Someone asked.

"No. The process will be like this. Both tennis teams will have an inter-team tournament. After, the remaining competitors, boys and girls, will face each other. When there only 10 members left, that will be our new tennis team." She explained.

"So we're forming a new group all together?" Asked Ryoma.

"Yes."

"And when will this take place?" Asked Fuji.

"In a week. Since we want to have a chance to accept last minute club members."

"Is there a age range?" Questioned Kaidoh.

"No. Are there anymore questions?" Asked Ryuzaki-sensei.

Her question was answered with silence.

"Dismissed!" She yelled.


	3. Your Very Own Tennis

Chapter name:

"Ne, Tezuka-buchou." Asked Ryoma,

"What is it?"

"What do you think about this new arrangement?" He asked.

"As long as the players from the female team don't goof around and they are serious about playing tennis, I am fine with it." Tezuka responded.

"Hm… I see." Ryoma nodded, a troubled expression on his face.

"Why? What do you think about this, Echizen?" Asked the seemingly concerned captain.

"Nothing, it's fine." Said Echizen as he pushed past his captain and walked off the courts.

"Data…" Mumbled Inui in the corner of the room, he glasses glinting. Tezuka, un amused turned around to look at him.

"Inui!" He said, sharply. Alarmed, Inui looked up.

"Yes?" He asked.

"From the data you have collected, has Echizen been playing or acting differently?" Asked Tezuka.

Inui paused to flip through his data book and responding, "He seems to be playing much more cautiously." He reported.

"hm… Thank you." Tezuka said, abruptly standing up. He swung his tennis bag over his shoulder and walked out of the room.

***************************With Echizen…*****************************

"I'm home." He mumbled, as he stepped through the door of the house taking off his shoes. He looked at the clock. 7:00pm. He had gotten home later than he thought he would.

"There you are Ryoma-san." Said Nanako. "Where were you?" She asked.

"I walked home slowly from school." Ryoma mumbled the first reason he thought of.

He knew it was because they stayed behind a little longer to talk about the new cooperation. He didn't know why he felt he had to hide that.

"Did you eat dinner?" Asked Nanako.

"No, but I'm not hungry." Said Ryoma as he slipped past Nanako.

"Ryoma not hungry?" Wondered Nanako.

Ryoma went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He then splashed his face with water, jammed his hat back on to his head and walked out the back to the tennis courts.

"Oh! You finally came." Said Nanjiro, as he sat in the corner of the tennis court.

"What happened?" He asked, an aloof smile on his face.

"Nothing!" Ryoma said, roughly picking his racket up. As he did Ryoma suddenly remembered something. He didn't know what. It was a slight déjà vu. He stopped midway picking up his racket. "Um… Oji-san" started a hesitant Ryoma.

"Hm?"

"Do you remember Amaya?"

"Ah! Amaya Hirano! Right, I was supposed to tell you. She came into town and she's attending Seigaku." He said.

"Oh. Okay. Did anything happen to her?" He asked.

"She sprained her ankle once playing tennis but she should be fine."

"Okay." Ryoma paused, "So that means she know how to play tennis?" He asked.

"Are you kidding?" Nanjiro exclaimed, "She was the one who convinced you to play tennis!"

"… She was?"

"Yes!" Exclaimed Nanjiro, putting a hand to his forehead. "Putting that aside are we going to play?"

"Right." Said Ryoma. Pulling his tennis ball out of his shorts pocket. He threw the ball in the air. He had another chilling memory as his racket hit the ball. He saw as the ball being absorbed to his dad. Nanjiro hit back a perfect return. Ryoma twisted his wrist to a 70 angle as his racket was inches away from the tennis orb; he hesitated and tossed the ball back with light knock from his racket. Nanjiro easily 'tossed' sent the flying towards Ryoma again. "What's wrong? You're letting up." Nanjiro said.

"Nothing." Ryoma said, "I don't feeling like playing right now." Ryoma stormed back into the house.

Nanjiro scratched his head in confusion. "What's wrong with him?" As Ryoma walked up the stairs to his room he couldn't help feeling extremely confused.

Some of his memories of Amaya weren't fitting together. He slipped into his pajamas and decided to end his day in an unsettling sleep.

The next morning Ryoma woke up from another memorable moment with Amaya, this time Amaya was explaining how she felt after and while playing tennis. She had said something like, "When you hold the racket in your hand, you can feel the sweat coming from your body and you just feel like you need to keep playing, just keep going. You can't stop." Her voice and face was full of excitement. In his dream, Ryoma had just shrugged. Ryoma shook his head. "What _is_ happening to me?" he thought. Ryoma continued his everyday routine as he had done yesterday. He got dressed, packed his bag, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. As soon as he finished he rushed out the door in a hurry, waving a quick good bye. As he got to the school the day rushed by as well. It turned out that Amaya was good at school as well, though her English wasn't perfect. At the end of the day, he rushed to tennis practice. From what his dad had told him, Amaya was bound to have signed up for the girls' tennis team. He didn't want to bump into her along the way.

"Yo! Ryoma-kun!" Shouted Horio.

Ryoma turned around, irritated. "What?" He asked, his face turning sour. Horio hesitated before asking the question, "Aren't you excited about the new team? Even us first years can join!"

"Right." Responded Ryoma, solemnly.

Ryoma walked past Horio and walked to the tennis courts. As he approached the fields, he saw a crowd of people. Either it was an interesting game or something had happened. Turns out it was both. Sort of. There were certainly two people on the playing grounds but that wasn't the reason for the crowd. Ryuzaki-sensei had something to announce.

"I am sure that yesterday I announced the cooperation of the girls team and our team, yes?" People nodded their heads. "I also believe I said we'd give a week for people to join." Everyone agreed. "We have decided to shorten the span of that time and today, right now, we will go around and advertise to anyone who is still on campus if they want to join the male or female tennis team and get their registration now." Ryuzaki continued, "So if the people gathered here now could go find members who might want to join please do so. I understand that the arrangement is extremely unorganized but please bear with me for now."

The crowd murmured and nodded.

"Everyone please so out and advertise right now."

"Hey Echizen, do you know if Amaya knows how to play tennis?" Asked Horio.

Ryoma paused to think for a moment, "I guess. I don't know."

"She said that she goes way back with you, you should know!"

Ryoma looked up, uninterested, "Yes then, she plays." Ryoma walked over to he vending machine and put in 100 yen, he clicked the grape ponta and the can fell out.

As he reached down to grab it he heard someone approaching from behind. He closed his eyes trying to seem as if he didn't notice them.

"Ryoma-kun, I know you know I'm here. Just turn around." Amaya said.

"Che," Ryoma turned around.

Amaya was standing there with her hands behind her back.

"You don't really remember me, do you?" She asked.

Ryoma, taken aback by the question, just turned around.

"No I don't, not really." He said.

"I see, okay. Well, do you mind me playing tennis?"

Ryoma shrugged, "it's not my choice if you get to play tennis or not."

Amaya smiled, it was a puzzled smile. "Well, I think I'm going to. I think I'll sign up for the team."

Ryoma twitched, "Okay, so why are you telling me?" He asked, slightly annoyed for some reason.

"Well, if someone were to have a serious injury, and they haven't played any sports or been in any physical activity for a while, and then they decide to start playing really intensely, would that be stupid?" She asked.

Almost immediately, Ryoma thought of Tezuka.

"No, it wouldn't be stupid." He automatically responded. "If you want to play, play. You can't let someone else decide that for you. Tennis is _your_ game."

Amaya smiled again. But it wasn't a puzzled smile like before it was a pleased smile.

"Wow, well that was a nice dramatic speech. Thanks." Amaya walked away to the tennis courts. But Amaya turned around once more.

"What does she want now?" Ryoma internally groaned,

"Should someone be ashamed of their injury?"

"No. It's your battle scar."

Amaya nodded, "Thanks."

"Where have I heard that before? All those things I just said." Ryoma wondered, frustrated.

Shaking his head Ryoma picked up his racket and walked to the courts to practice.

When he reached the courts he heard the bouncing of a ball several times on the other side of the wall in perfect tempo. It was in different spots every time but something was weird about this playing style. As Ryoma paused to listen her realized that he knew what was so strange. The tennis ball was hitting different spots in the wall, with different amount of forces, so that the different hits were able to create a melody. Mesmerized, Ryoma continued to listen before the "music" suddenly stopped. There was silence and Ryoma then decided to start practice.

Thok. Thok. Thok. The ball continuously bounced against the wall in the same spot.

Tik. Tik. Thok. Tik. Tik. Thok. The person on the other side played along with his beat.

Ryoma smiled. He started hitting the ball faster and the ball on the other side got faster. He abruptly stopped and so did the other person. He served the ball at the wall, his racket hit the tennis ball with a satisfying, Thwack. Right as the ball hit the wall, on the other side, a racket had hit the ball at the same time. The game of matching had continued for a while and every time a new sequence began, Ryoma felt something very familiar. Ryoma suddenly realized that the sun had set and that he should be going. He set his racket in his bag and stood up.

Ryoma then sheepishly said, "Good game."

There was no response. Feeling slightly embarrassed and extremely foolish Ryoma left the tennis courts. As he left Ryoma wondered, "Who'd tennis was that?"


End file.
